


Revolutions

by jenchanshaw



Series: Revolutions [1]
Category: Mai-HiME, Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena, 神無月の巫女 | Kannazuki no Miko | Destiny of the Shrine Maiden
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, F/F, Multi, Multi-Xover
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-01
Updated: 2015-02-10
Packaged: 2018-03-10 02:15:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3273041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jenchanshaw/pseuds/jenchanshaw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Did you hear? Did you hear? Have you heard the news? The Revolution has come and gone, and there is a new Prince to amuse!" </p><p>This story is meant to replicate a full 25 episode season of anime and continues on after the end of RGU, Mai Hime and KnM, weaving the mythologies of all three series together.</p><p>The Hime and Miko are caught again in the eternal struggles between the Prince, the Eight-Headed Demon, and the Obsidian Lord. Bonds of love and friendship (romantic, platonic and familial) are forged and tested between the casts of MaiHime, KannaMiko and Utena. </p><p>The story takes place a few weeks after Mai Hime, about 15-16 years after the end of RGU, and about 15-16 years after the end of KnM. </p><p>Story is complete on FFnet; Just editing it and copying it over to ao3.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

 

*MANY AGES AGO*

_In the beginning, there were people - just regular people, doing regular things, and sometimes, not-so-regular things. The people would help each other, would hurt each other, and would exhibit the entire spectrum of human behavior._

_It was from the people that the essence of The Prince was fashioned. Every time someone helped somebody else, every time someone rescued another, was nice to another, the essence of The Prince was there. Over time, this essence got stronger and stronger, until eventually there became an incarnation of this essence - a personification, a manifestation. That was when The Prince was born._

_Of course, people were not always good to one another. Sometimes they would hurt each other. Sometimes they would be hurt. They would drown in jealousy, in loneliness, in despair. The essence of The Witch and The Eight Headed Demon of Despair were born from the people too, and some would argue they were born much, much earlier than The Prince._

_There were a myriad of essences, each that spawned their own incarnation - some godly, some demonic, and everything in between. And as the people would interact with each other, so too, did the embodiments. They existed everywhere people did, and once in a while, their very forms were summoned to walk among the people._

_During a dark period in humanity, the essence of despair was so strong that the Eight Headed Demon itself was called to earth. Orochi, as the people called him, ravaged the planet, hell bent on destroying anything and everything in his path. When two women - the Sun and Moon Miko, summoned a god to defeat and seal it, The Prince was with them not only in spiritual essence, for they exuded him in their will and courage, but in body as well, in the form of Ame no Murakumo, God of Swords. It was a terrific battle, and The Prince sealed the Eight Headed Demon._

_Unfortunately, what The Prince failed to do was to sever the Eight Headed Demon from the essence that fueled it. So long as despair was felt by the people, the Eight Headed Demon could never be destroyed. Laughingly, the Demon told The Prince, even as he lay bleeding in his shackles and wards, that one day, when enough feelings of despair had accumulated, he would have the strength needed to break free again._

_The Prince felt a deep trouble at this declaration, for he knew it was true. Even the two miko who had shown such strong echoes of his own essence that he had been able to manifest a physical form to aid them with, were susceptible to fueling the Demon they had fought so hard to seal._ _Tragically, to defeat Orochi, and to undo all his horrors, the gods had to be sufficiently moved in order to exercise their great power together. A sacrifice was required. One miko died by the hand of the other, and the surviving one's grief and guilt was overwhelming._

_So moved were the gods by the actions of the Sun and Moon Miko, these mere mortals so small in the universe and the grand scheme of things, that they undid Orochi's horrors and even granted humanity a mechanism through which to shape their world as they saw fit. That was the beginning of the Festival of the Hime Star._

_This experience left The Prince saddened however, and it may have been because of this that led to his ultimate downfall, for he resolved to do the best he could, and help, and save, and inspire as many as he could. He began to show his physical form more and more often, saving hundreds, helping thousands, asking nothing in return, for he did not want a repeat of the tragedy of the Sun and Moon Miko. His strength ultimately began to wane, for the power that fueled him, the essence of helpfulness, of courage, and kindness, began to be channeled by less and less people. Who needed to have the essence of a prince, when there was an actual prince around?_

_He grew weak, and ashen, and started wasting away. He was dying._

_And so it was that The Witch made a decision with enormous ramifications, as she watched the Prince grow weaker and weaker. She loved him, but could never be with him, for it was her power, her essence, to remain unfulfilled and alone. The Witch did to The Prince, what The Prince could not do to the Eight Headed Demon. She severed the incarnation from the essence, cutting off The Prince from the power that fueled him._

_Alas, in the absence of the Prince, other forces were able to expand their influence. The Obsidian Lord, fed by humanity's greed and lust for power, soon saw the opportunity to abuse the Festival of the Hime Star, and began to manipulate the mechanics of the Festival for himself with the help of lessor servants._

* * *

*SIXTEEN YEARS AGO*

Homura Nagi frowned.

Something had changed – something big and something small at the same time. The butterfly perched on his finger didn't even flutter its wings, but to beings such as he, it was as though a long frozen tornado had suddenly ripped the roof of its cage, and then, just as suddenly, disappeared.

It was the slight squeaking of wheels that finally startled the butterfly from his finger, and he looked over at Kazahana Mashiro, who was just arriving to the library of Fuuka Academy, quietly being pushed in her wheelchair by the discreet youngster she had taken under her wing – Himeno Fumi. The expression on Mashiro's face was impassive as always, but the trouble in her eyes told Nagi that she must have felt what he had felt too.

With no further greeting, he simply asked her, "hey! What just happened?"

Fumi, for one, looked confused, unable to grasp what Nagi could be referring to. To her, it was as quiet and calm in the early morning library as it ever was. She looked down at her mistress for an explanation.

"Shh," was Mashiro's reply, as she narrowed her eyes in concentration, trying to feel out and decipher the remaining tendrils of energy for a clue about what could have changed so irrevocably in the universe.

Everything was still in the library that knew to be, and Fumi, sensing the mood of her mistress, also remained as still as possible, subconsciously holding her breath.

In the resulting silence, both Mashiro and Nagi could hear it, the barely there, but unmistakable, inescapable wispy giggle of shadows:

_'Did you hear? Did you hear? Have you heard the news? The revolution has come and gone, and there is a new Prince to amuse!'_

_'Or possibly,' to confuse'?'_

_'Ara, I don't think she gets to choose!'_

And then the whispers devolved into laughter that soon disappeared altogether. Mashiro frowned as she regarded Nagi, whose eyebrow was cocked with intrigue. Fumi released the breath she'd been holding.

"Unbelievable!" Nagi snorted derisively. "A new Prince after all this time? Hah! I didn't think humanity could birth another! Oh, my Lord will get a laugh out of this!"

Mashiro's frown intensified in the white haired boy's direction. "Don't think so lightly of humanity, Nagi."

"Oh? Are you so confident that your girl," Nagi flicked his eyes up at Fumi, who looked back at him blankly, "will have a chance against my Lord this time?"

"If not Fumi-san, then one of the others." Mashiro shot back coldly. "This time, Onii-sama will not have his way."

"Oowaa," Nagi wiggled his fingers mockingly. "Mashiro-chan is scary when she's determined! Well, who knows, maybe you  _will_  win this time around. There's still a few months before Orochi's scheduled defeat kicks off the Hime Festival, so we still have a little more time to hedge some bets before things really get crazy, don't we?" He laughed a little, entertaining himself with a spin around. "Anyway, can I have my book back now please? You've borrowed it for quite a while already."

The pale haired Child's hard look at the boy grew somehow colder for a moment, before she looked up at Fumi, her gaze softening, and gave the girl the barest of nods. Silently, the girl maid went into the satchel she wore to bring out a solo leather bound volume, handing it to Nagi.

"Thank you, Fumi-chan!" Nagi said, winking at her. "Hey, don't be upset that Mashiro-chan doesn't believe in you. You can come over to my Lord's side anytime, okay? Just bring those cookies you know I like!" With that, he pranced off, tossing the book up and down in the air as he sauntered before disappearing entirely.

Mashiro and Fumi stood silently in the now abandoned library for a moment before Mashiro sagged a little in her chair. She looked up at her maid, a regretful expression on her features. "I'm sorry, Fumi-san. That was rude of me."

But Fumi only smiled down serenely at her mistress. "It's okay, Mashiro-sama. Fumi knows she isn't smart. But whatever she can help you with, she will."

Her maid's devotion finally managed to coax the trouble from her face. Mashiro smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Fumi-san. Let's go back now. I need to think about what this could mean. Were you able to hear the shadows?"

Fumi shook her head.

Mashiro considered this for a moment. "Hmm… perhaps it is better that you could not. Their riddles tend to provoke and unsettle rather than to guide. I need to think about the implications some more."

* * *

In the end, however, simply thinking was not enough to shed adequate light on the situation, and Mashiro needed more active investigation.

The place most likely to hold the answers, a school so different and yet so similar to her own, was closed to her. Whatever had happened, had happened of course at that school, but she dared not enter there. None of her kind was welcome within its stylized, rose-themed, ivory gates, and though she could sense that the power which had always warned her away from the place had diminished, the echoes and smoke of so many years of dark desire and manipulation still haunted the school. Foreboding and malice still dwelled at Ohtori Academy, for all that its students and staff were ignorant of it.

She was reduced to waiting for wisps of shadowy gossip on the wind, though the shadow girls did not visit often, and when they did, their messages were obscured with incomprehensible metaphors and laughter, even to her.

As the days fell off the calendar, and the godless month approached, Mashiro watched Oogami Shrine like a hawk. She had just cause for worry.

300 years had passed since the last cycle, and the shrine had lost all its influence on humanity's leaders, as well as many of its own records and safekeepings. It was a miracle that the few remaining priests of the shrine remembered the importance of their mission at all, another miracle still that they were able to find and provide a little bit of guidance to the reborn Sun and Moon Miko.

It was at Oogami Shrine that irrevocable proof of the Prince's second coming was finally revealed to Mashiro. She watched in fascination as one of the very necks of Orochi himself found the hope and strength to rise up against his master, siding with the Sun and Moon Miko. This should never have been possible, Mashiro knew. That the boy was able to do so was mind boggling. It could only mean that the Prince had indeed returned, that bastion of what was good and noble about humanity.

In her amazement, Mashiro was overjoyed. Could it be that the cycle would finally be broken? Could the Obsidian Lord be thwarted before the Hime Star even re-appeared? Might she win, without needing to execute her plans, without needing to play the game?

But her hopes were dashed as the cycle was not broken. She watched in horror and bitterness as the Miko of the Moon eschewed the chance to break free, making the choice to continue the cycle. Orochi was merely sealed once again, when he could have been destroyed, and with his sealing, the Festival of the Hime Star began.

Mashiro could feel her brother awaken in the world.

She lamented what could have been only for a moment. The game was afoot; she had to finish her own preparations.

She had to find the Hime before her brother could.

Caught up as she was in her own searches, Mashiro almost missed the significance of one little girl being born into the world, one little girl who was not a Hime, but a princess in her own right.

* * *

She was reborn as a healthy, baby girl with her memories as Himemiya Chikane fully intact, a phenomenon that proved first a curse and then a blessing to the orphaned, unwed, teenaged mother she was born to. The trauma she suffered from being trapped in a physical and emotional form as weak and powerless as a newborn even while her mind retained the facilities and intellect of the adolescent she used to be, caused her to fuss and cry almost non-stop for the first several days of her new life: she was a colic baby.

She had expected to be imprisoned, had planned for it, really. For her brutality against her most beloved Himeko, she had resigned to die and for her soul to be locked in an eternity of imprisonment inside the Lunar Shrine, outside of time and the mortal coil.

Indeed, for the first few days of her new life, she thought that this was indeed what had actually happened to her. Unable to speak, her body unresponsive, drifting between sleep and wakefulness and unable to differentiate between the two, she had only her thoughts and memories to accompany her. Nightmares and dreams, longing and loneliness, Himeko's tearful goodbye as they parted, Himeko's horrified screaming as she was ravaged, the turmoil and trauma of it rolled into an unending miasma of suffocation.

That she would spend the rest of eternity in this hell was too much. She cried out. She cried and she cried, unable to comprehend time as she did so.

It was her mother's miserable tears dropping on her face that finally lead her out of the darkness, that cut through the nightmares, and helped Chikane to finally stop crying and open her new eyes for the first time. She almost went into shock when she realized that she was not, in fact, in hell. It took her a while, but eventually, with dubiousness, the epiphany finally dawned on her as to what could only have happened:

She was reborn.

She was part of the living world

She was part of _*Himeko's*_ living world.

And the joy of that epiphany prompted her out of her ruminations with a laugh at the absurdity of it all. It was her first laugh, just a gurgle, really, but an occasion to which her mother was able to bear witness.

After the stress of dealing with a baby who was first colic and then (seemingly) catatonic, the simple sound brought tears of relief and joy to the teenager's eyes and those tears rolled unashamedly down her cheeks as she hugged her daughter close.

By luck or perhaps divine mockery, she was reborn still a Himemiya (though not related to her past life clan, as far as she could tell). She did not much care for the first name her mother gave her, so when she relearned how to speak a few months later, she told her mother that she wanted to be called Chikane. She spoke and was intelligible far sooner than when most babes began to babble. Most parents would have marveled or perhaps freaked out. Her mother was surprised, but hadn't known just how out of the ordinary this really was, young as she was and with no family or friends to tell her otherwise.

Chikane's mother absolutely adored her, and raised her as best she could with what little that she had. They lived in a tiny one room apartment sharing the same futon for many years. Her under-aged mother had to complete mandatory education during the day, finishing the last two years of middle school while Chikane was in day care. To pay for the day care, her mother took on less-than-fully-legal janitorial work in the nights and evenings with companies who were willing to look the other way when she showed up to work with a sleeping baby strapped to her back.

The young mother's iron will, determination and tenacity to do right by her daughter won said daughter's love and respect, even over top of the natural bond between parent and child, and Chikane resolved to do what she could to ease the burden she knew she must be to her mother. She cried very little. She ate without fuss. She slept through the night when she could though sometimes the nightmares were too much. It was a challenge, balancing what could pass for precociousness with what was just unnatural, but generally, she was able to do so.

She couldn't let anyone know about her memories, that she had somehow made it through the reincarnation cycle without drinking from the River Styx. Her mother *lived* for her. From the pieces of various conversation she gleamed from the social workers who came to check up on the two periodically, Chikane knew her mother had suffered from a debilitating depression during her pregnancy and had been on suicide watch - still was, in fact. It was only the necessities of caring for a helpless newborn that finally gave her mother the drive to live again at all. Chikane couldn't risk being taken away from her mother for any reason (scientific inquiry, investigation of demonic possession, or otherwise); her mother could easily fall back into that despair.

Indeed, the young mother had even confessed this to her child one night, a couple of weeks before Chikane had started baby babbling and before she realized her daughter could understand every word she said. On that night, as new parents are often known to do, she laid her drowsy babe down to sleep on their shared futon, kissed her tenderly on the brow, and told her that she would never let any harm befall her, that she was her most precious princess, that she loved her more than anything in the world.

And then she said, her ocean blue eyes brimming, her voice choking with emotion, "you saved my life, baby girl. If not for you, I'd be dead by now. If not for you, there'd be no reason for me to go on."

Chikane had gazed silently up at her mother. Wanting to give her mother some sign that she understood, but frustratingly still unable to get her muscles to respond the way she wanted them to, all she could do was reach up and grab a fistful of her mother's lovely pink hair before drifting off to sleep.

That night, Chikane dreamed of Himeko. Because her mother held her so comfortingly, the dreams were good.  _'Wait for me,'_  she told the Himeko of her dreams,  _'I'm not ready to be with you yet. But soon, I will be. Soon.'_

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Once upon a time, there was a girl who watched a lot of harem anime and just wished that all these super-powered kick-ass females would stop fighting each other over some stupid guy and just be friends. In fact, she wished that all her favourite characters, from all the different series, could play together and be besties.

Many years later, this girl has grown up and become a big yuri fan. She still wishes for her favourite characters to play together, though 'play' now involves many different types of interactions and relationship. Bad things tend to happen to her favourite yuri characters and she believes that if they could reach across the boundaries of their own shows, they'd really be able to help one another with their problems and be better off for it. 'Revolution', is the latest iteration of this desire. Hopefully, there are other folks who may find these multi-crossovers entertaining. ^_^

I beg forgiveness from folks who find bits and pieces of this fic familiar. There are indeed scenes that came from some of my prior writing, as they describe the basic premise of this fic which still fascinates me after all this time: how the universes of Utena, KannaMiko ( and now, MaiHime) could potentially work together. I'll try not to cheat *too* much though!

Special thanks to my guubear for putting up with me and being the world's bestest most awesomest sounding board.

Just one omake this time as this is just the prologue. I'm not sure how appropriate it is to lampoon the fic before it even officially begins. Future chapters will probably have more! ^_^;;

Cheers,

jen-chan

jen-chan-shaw. livejournal. com  
jen-chan-shaw. tumblr. com

* * *

OMAKE I: Replaced by Younger Model

[NORMAL-SIZED-CHIKANE wearing the regular Mahoraba school uniform holds BABY-CHIKANE with outstretched arms under BABY-CHIKANE's armpits. BABY-CHIKANE is only wearing a diaper and sucking on a pacifier. They are both glaring at each other.]

NORMAL-SIZED CHIKANE: [Eyebrow twitching] Okay squirt, let's get some things straight here. Just because you're small and cute does not mean you can get away with murder. You keep your drool covered fingers off of my Himeko, you hear?

BABY-CHIKANE: [Snorts derisively & rolls eyes]

NORMAL-SIZED CHIKANE: [Eyebrow twitches more furiously] Why you little-!

[Just then, HIMEKO walks onto the scene. She sees NORMAL-SIZED-CHIKANE and BABY-CHIKANE and promptly gets hearts in her eyes as all manner of flowers and bubbles and sparkles start crowding the background.]

HIMEKO: Ohmigod, aren't you just the most adorable thing! [Quickly takes BABY-CHIKANE from NORMAL-SIZED CHIKANE and starts cuddling her]

BABY-CHIKANE: [Looks over at NORMAL-SIZED CHIKANE. Spits out pacifier to smirk at NORMAL-SIZED CHIKANE. Sticks out her tongue and pulls down an eye] Pffft!

NORMAL-SIZED CHIKANE: * ~~~~ orz


	2. Chapter 1: A Hime Goes to Fuuka

 

The unexpected smell of dinner told Himemiya Chikane that her mother was home early when she opened the door to their apartment. Surprised, she called out for her mother, even as she unlaced and removed her shoes. "Tadaima! Okaa-sama? Is that you?"

"Oi! Okaeri, Chikane!" The voice came first through the curtain that separated the kitchen from the main living area of the apartment, followed a couple moments afterwards by a young, ocean-blue-eyed face framed with bright pink hair pulled up in a ponytail. Tenjou Utena smiled welcomingly at her daughter. "Quick, come help me with this pot."

Putting her school-case down, Chikane hurried into the kitchen, grabbed a couple of dish clothes, and quickly took the steaming pot from her mother. "Soup for dinner?" Chikane asked.

"Soup for dinner," Utena confirmed as she left the kitchen to set up the low kotatsu table in the main living area.

Soon dinner was ready, and they sat down to eat. "You're home early today," Chikane remarked casually.

"Yeah, I managed to finish report cards a little earlier than I thought I would," Utena replied. "Where abouts were you? Library?"

"Yes," Chikane nodded, lifting her glass of water to her lips. "Using the computer."

"Ah. Still cyber-stalking that cute photographer? Kururusomething?"

Chikane almost choked on her water, causing her mother to laugh and hand her a napkin. She gave her mother a chagrined look. "Occasionally googling someone is not cyber-stalking," she replied coolly, before turning the offensive back onto her mother, hiding the smirk she felt behind her napkin. "I know what cyber-stalking is. I've seen what your students have been leaving on your wall again."

"Aaah, do I still have those privacy settings wrong?" Utena winced, awkwardly rubbing the back of her head. "Mou, Chikane, help your old woman out. I really don't want to give the school board any more ammunition. They've been giving me so much flack!"

Chikane feigned innocence. "Oh? Doesn't being named Educator-of-the-Year earn you any sort of respite?"

"Only the kind that also comes with a giant magnifying glass. Sometimes I think that award brought more trouble than opportunity." Utena sighed.

The sigh caught Chikane's attention. Her mother might be young (wasn't even 30 yet; too young for most to suspect she had a 15 year old daughter), but even that wasn't an excuse for how  _ridiculously young_  Utena routinely could pass for. Long-time acquaintances swore she hadn't aged a day since she had Chikane. More often than not, strangers thought them to be sisters (with Chikane being the older sister. That Chikane really could be construed in some ways to  _actually be_  older than her mother was beside the point).

Sometimes, however, when Utena would sigh a certain way or maybe look into the distance, Chikane could see some evidence of the years, the hard years, on her mother. Now was one of those times.

Despite the tiredness in her voice, Chikane knew her mother didn't really mean her words. Utena had all but broken her back with hard work over the last decade making betterments at the high school where she taught sports medicine and coached basketball. She had been speechless with emotion when her peers so publically acknowledged her good work.

When Chikane was a toddler, her mother had planned on joining the work force after finishing compulsory education, but Chikane convinced her to stay in school, reassuring her that she would be fine at home by herself. After all, she had said to her mother at the time, wouldn't their future would be a bit brighter if her mother was a little more employable? And wouldn't a high school diploma and maybe even a college degree after that be the best way to bring about that future?

So Utena (stirred but also a bit perturbed to be given this speech by her preschooler daughter), had grinded her way through high school and college and eventually became a teacher at a school in an underprivileged community where some of her students included young, unwed mothers like she had been as a teen. Her friendly, youthful relatability and continue-on-against-all-odds attitude became an inspiration to many of her students and she continually made huge impacts on many of the young lives who needed it most. Sometimes, those students tried to show their gratitude in ways that weren't entirely appropriate, and this gave Chikane the chance to tease her mother; Utena really wasn't as online or computer savvy as she needed to be in this day and age.

No, Chikane knew the award was a source of great pride for her mother, although it recently had brought about a situation that had lost Utena some sleep at night – the trouble her mother had alluded to.

Suddenly, Chikane had an inkling as to why her mother was home early today. Putting down her napkin and schooling her features carefully, she gave the pink haired woman her complete attention.

"... so I guess you've made a decision about that offer from Fuuka Academy?" Chikane asked softly.

Utena sighed again, her clear blue eyes downcast as she wrapped her hands around a warm cup of tea. "Yeah, I think I have."

"... and...?" Curiously, Chikane could feel her own heart beat a little faster. Her mother's decision had huge impacts on her own plans after all.

Utena continued to be silent for a moment longer, before finally looking Chikane firmly in her own blue-green irises. "Fuuka Acadamy is an amazing school, and the island is a beautiful place to live. It's got some really interesting policies and the facilities are top of the line, or will be anyway, after the reconstruction finishes. But, having said that, I just can't see myself teaching there."

Chikane held her mother's gaze for a moment longer and felt the expectation quietly drain from her limbs. She let go of a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. It took her longer than a moment, but finally, she nodded. "… I understand." She simply said, and she did.

Her mother  _saved lives_  where she worked, a beacon of hope for those who most needed it.

A Prince.

Utena couldn't do the good work she was meant to do, she was born to do, she  _needed_  to do, at Fuuka Academy, where the students were mostly from the affluent and stable. Chikane couldn't imagine an Utena who wasn't saving somebody's world every single day.

Still, she would be lying if she said she wasn't disappointed. One of the best benefits that Fuuka had for its teaching staff was that their children were accepted into the school for free, and the school was (at least until recently anyway), considered one of the best in the country. Chikane didn't sigh, though she wanted to. In her mind, Fuuka made the distance between hers and Himeko's different stations in life, somehow, a little smaller.

"I can't see myself teaching there," Utena repeated, her gaze softening, as she reached out and gently put her hand over top of her daughters. "But, I can totally see you going there. They've got a very strong arts program, and their leadership training program is revolutionary! The student council practically  _runs_  the place. It would be perfect for you."

This was likely to be true.

Chikane had been extremely multi-talented in her previous life, and having been through everything before, she found school this time around to be easy enough. Rather than lashing out in boredom, she'd quietly taken on extra tasks to the delight of her teachers, dabbling in some of the extra-curriculars she had excelled at once upon a time. In particular, her maturity meant that she quickly became roped into student government, first chosen as class rep by her teachers, and then as elected by her peers. Leadership came easily to her and she enjoyed it enough as a distraction.

Archery and piano were her true favorites. The extra lengths it took for Chikane to find ways to practice those expensive arts had only fine-tuned her appreciation for them, frustrating though it had been, having to re-develop muscle memory from scratch when her mind was already at a master's level.

There was only one art that she knew thoroughly and completely by instinct: swordsmanship.

Chikane was resigned to the fact that her soul would forever be tied to Ame no Murakumo, the God of Swords.

In this life, she had only ever picked up a sword once, during an iaido presentation at a community centre, and felt a deep familiarity with the weapon. But one look at the inexplicable horror on her mother's face, and Chikane quietly gave the weapon back to the presenter. She wasn't sure why her mother had reacted the way she had, still wasn't sure to this day, but from that point on, one thing was clear to her:

Her mother. Hated. Swords.

Shaking her head free of loose thoughts, Chikane regarded her mother with eyebrows lifted in surprise. "I can't go to Fuuka. We couldn't possibly afford that," she said softly. Though she'd mostly made peace with it, sometimes, when she remembered the luxury and downright decadence of her past life, bitterness would creep into her heart, as it threatened to do now. It was a mercy, somewhat, that over the years, the detailed memories of her prior life had fuzzed over.

But Utena only gave Chikane an enigmatic smile. Wordlessly removing her hand from atop her daughter's, she reached under the table for a package that Chikane hadn't noticed and handed it to her.

"Hai. Here you go."

Chikane stared at the package – a brown envelop with Fuuka's school crest on it. Flicking her eyes back up to her mother's mirthful ones, Chikane opened the package and scanned the cover letter quickly. Her breath caught.

"A Kazahana scholarship? But how?"

Utena smiled. "When I went out there for my interview, I might have brought your national exam results with me, as well as copies of five or six of those high schools pre-acceptance letters. Their student aid department couldn't think of a better candidate for that scholarship."

Chikane was momentarily stunned. One by one, the obstacles in front of her were dissipating. There was only one left; the biggest one. Her brow crinkled. "But I'll be so far away from you."

Utena had come a very long way from the days when suicidal thoughts plagued her, though Chikane could still remember some of those scary nights. But there were no traces of the demons that her mother once dealt with now; Utena's ocean blue eyes shone with love and pride. "I'll have Chu-Chu. And you'll be back for the holidays, right?"

As if summoned by her name, a small mouse-sized purple-grey monkey jumped up on the table from somewhere, giving Chikane a small 'chu!' in greeting and then diving face first into the remains of dinner in Utena's bowl. Chikane barely even noticed her, accustomed as she was to her antics and ability to seemingly burst into existence from out of nowhere.

Quietly putting the package back on the table, Chikane got up, walked over to the other side of the low table where Utena was sitting, and gave her mother a tight hug from behind.

Chikane couldn't help but feel her heart soar. If she could get to Fuuka, such a prestigious school, and do well there, she would be just that much closer to being ready for Himeko.

* * *

"Mai! Maaai!" Minagi Mikoto burst into her dorm room on all fours, an expression of half proud and half crazed excitement clear on her face. "Look! Look, look, look!"

"Hmm? What is it, Mikoto?" Despite the abruptness of the entrance, apron clad Tokiha Mai wasn't even fazed enough to turn fully towards the door. Standing at the stove in the kitchen of their studio style dorm room and continuing to stir the pot of lunch she was working on, she only casually half glanced over her shoulder. What she saw prompted her eyebrows to arch as the surprise utterly missing in her before finally appeared on her face. Putting her chopsticks down and wiping her hands, Mai smiled broadly as she gave the small girl her full attention. "Eeeeh! That uniform looks good on you, Mikoto! You look so grown up!"

The black haired wild child beamed, standing up on her (hind) legs and spinning around with her arms outstretched to the sides, causing the grey pleated skirt of Fuuka High School's girl's uniform to twirl around her thighs. Fuuka High's trademark orange gold blazer was tailored to Mikoto's small torso (not a very smart idea, in Mai's opinion, as there was still a slim chance that the small girl could grow, unlikely though that was) and the girls' red bow was also knotted primly around Mikoto's neck just under the collar of her white dress shirt. Mai gave the accessory maybe 15 more minutes before it was accidentally lost or purposefully discarded.

Seeing Mikoto standing before her caused Mai's heart to tighten strangely in her chest.

Mikoto was in  _high school_  now, she realized with not a small measure of wonder and worry. There definitely had to be some sort of shadowy power still at work that enabled Mikoto to pass the ninth grade, but since those powers seemed to be on their side, Mai decided not to worry too much about it. With the conclusion of the Hime Star Festival, the pretense that got Mai and her brother Takumi the Kazahana scholarship to attend Fuuka in the first place was no longer in effect. For a while, Mai wondered if they'd be kicked out, but Director Himeno Fumi had assured the Tokiha siblings that their scholarship would see the both of them through high school graduation.

"Heeeh. Well look at you, Mikoto," came an amused voice from the door. "You actually look more like a normal girl than a wild animal for once. Almost even respectable!"

Mai and Mikoto looked up and saw their other roommate, Kuga Natsuki, smirking at them from the door Mikoto had all but kicked in.

Mai couldn't help but notice that Natsuki's smirk was noticeably nicer than it used to be when they had first met. Given everything they'd gone through together, the three had become close friends, with Natsuki even moving in with Mai and Mikoto for several weeks while Fuuka Academy and its dorms (and parts of Fuuka Town, for that matter) were being rebuilt in the aftermath of the Hime Star Festival. The dark haired biker's presence in their dorm room had been much more welcome than not by Mai. She appreciated all those times Natsuki had 'babysat' Mikoto, allowing Mai time to spend with Tate Yuuichi (and on a couple of rare occasions, Kanzaki Reito too). She'd miss Natsuki when she moved out, but maybe she could still convince her to babysit, assuming the biker's new roommate wasn't going to be as much of a handful as Mikoto.

Not catching the backhandedness of that compliment, Mikoto only 'umphed!' happily with Natsuki's assessment, putting her hands on her hips. Mai caught it though, and laughed. "Hey, at least she wears the full uniform like a respectable girl, unlike some hoody wearing truants who live here! You're lucky you're not actually repeating the 10th grade alongside Mikoto, Natsuki."

The dark haired girl cringed dramatically; it was always so easy to press her buttons. "Stop reminding me. I just got out of my last makeup lesson. I can't believe I had to spent almost all of spring break in remedial!"

Turning back towards the kitchen, Mai grabbed some bowls from the cupboard. "Well, you both got back with perfect timing; I just finished making lunch."

"Ramen?" Mikoto cried hopefully, stars and hearts in her eyes.

"Your very favourite," the red headed chef affirmed.

The three sat down at the coffee table, Mikoto digging in before the bowl had even met the table surface while Mai tossed Natsuki a familiar bottle of white condiment before the long haired girl could ask for it. Natsuki sighed happily as she doused her ramen with a (not-so) healthy amount of mayo. "Aw man, excellent food and great service. I'm gonna miss living here!" There was more than a hint of wistfulness in her voice.

"Well, there's some things I won't be missing," Mai replied, grinning. "Three of us in this tiny space was a bit much, even if Mikoto  _doesn't_  sleep in her own bed. I'm so glad they've finished with the repairs to the girls' dormitories. If I had to share this bathroom with you one more semester...!" She trailed off.  _There'd be bloodshed!_  "Who'd have thought that Kuga Natsuki was such a princess in the morning?"

Natsuki's face colored a bright red, as Mai knew it would. While she sputtered for a retort, Mai continued, her grin now a kinder smile. "But, anyway, since you're only moving a couple floors up, you can just drop by for food whenever. Ahhh, but bring money; I can't afford a freeloader."

Her face still somewhat pink, Natsuki stopped trying to come up with a retort and merely gave the redhead a grumpy look. Her mood greatly improved as they ate though, and soon lunch was over. The three friends sat back with happy full stomachs.

"Don't blame me when I take you up on your offer. That really hit the spot," Natsuki sighed before becoming silent, satiated.

Mikoto, also finished with her meal, promptly curled up like a cat, resting her head on Mai's lap, and went to sleep. Mai noted absently that the red bow formerly around the girl's neck was, true to expectation, gone. Stroking the top of Mikoto's head absently, Mai looked over at Natsuki and noticed that the long haired girl was looking about the room they shared with a pensive, thoughtful expression on her face. It was an expression Mai wouldn't have thought Natsuki was capable of once upon a time, until their friendship had deepened. Natsuki always tried to hide any hints of delicacy and vulnerability; that she could now let her guard down enough to not even think to hide this particular face anymore suggested to Mai that Natsuki's comments had less to do with lunch, and more as commentary over her last several weeks in Mai & Mikoto's company.

Natsuki had spent so many years of her life caught up in the conspiracy of the Hime Star that she was a bit lost as to what to do with herself now that she was a normal girl like everyone else. Mai & Mikoto's place had turned out to be the safest, most nurturing place for her to figure that out, for all the complex and heavy personal issues the red head and the wild child had of their own. Between Mai's motherly nature, and Mikoto's antics, some semblance of the day-to-day normalcy and laughter most high school students took for granted had started to grow roots in Natsuki's heart.

There was really only one other place Natsuki might have stayed the last few weeks that could have  _potentially_  been better and healthier for her in the long run, but she really hadn't been ready for the consequences of moving in with Fujino Shizuru, as she had eventually been able to confide in Mai.

Mai couldn't help but worry for her friend on that front. While the frightful side of President Fujino that had reared its terrifying head during the Festival was conspicuously absent these days, Mai wasn't sure if that was because that side had been driven out entirely or simply hidden itself. And, for all that Natsuki had vehemently defended Shizuru when the President had come up in recent conversation amongst the former Hime, Mai was sure that not even Natsuki herself was entirely sure what to make of Shizuru...

Still, in Mai's heart of hearts, she wasn't really able to hold it all against the other girl. They'd all done some things they wanted to take back, and Shizuru was still undoubtedly held in high regard by the person who's regard mattered the most - Natsuki's. Besides, the President hadn't actually done anything against Mai herself, and anyone who was working as hard as Shizuru was to rebuild the school couldn't be all bad, right?

"So when do you have to move into your new room?" Mai asked softly. It was probably better to focus on the future than dwell on the past at this point.

Her question prompted Natsuki to close her eyes, and for a moment, there was an expression of regret-tinged nostalgia on the pretty girl's face before she opened her eyes again and shrugged with disinterest Mai knew to be feigned. "Whenever. But, probably, before the new semester starts."

"There's still a couple of days, then. The move shouldn't be too bad; you don't have too much stuff. Well, except for your lingerie collection." Mai giggled. "How do you intend to explain that one to your new roommate? Honestly, Natsuki, if you're luck, she'll just think it's ridiculous. If you're not lucky, you'll be branded a complete perv."

Natsuki threatened to turn pink again. ( _She's just so easy_ , Mai thought). "Well, if she knows what's good for her, she'll stay out of my business," the long haired girl replied gruffly. "I'm her senior, and she's my underclassman, after all."

"That might be hard when your 'business' overflows from all the drawer and closet space." Mai enjoyed another chuckle at Natsuki's expense. "So do you know who it's gonna be yet?"

"Yeah, she's a tenth grader not coming up through Fuuka's junior high. She's got a weird name. Himemiya Anty or Anthy or something like that."

* * *

Fujino Shizuru, outgoing Student Council President of Fuuka Academy, knocked on the door of Director Himeno Fumi's office and opened it when she heard the Director bid her come in. Despite her holding the office for several weeks now, it was still a little jarring for Shizuru to see Fumi in business attire rather than a maid uniform, and Shizuru wondered, not for the first time, when she would become accustomed to seeing Fumi holding the reigns rather than Kazahana Mashiro.

Director Himeno had faced not a small amount of challenge when she had stepped up. For all that she looked like an 11 year old girl, Director Kazahana was a respected figure in Fuuka's business and conference board rooms, while Himeno Fumi had maintained a public façade of being but her simple maid. As it turned out, Himeno Fumi was an even better "public servant" than she was a personal servant (which was  _really_  saying something). Where Fuuka should have completely folded between the physical devastation to the school and the financial constraints it had suffered due to the pulling of the SEARS Foundation's support while the First District was still roiled in utter chaos, somehow, the school was still standing, its operations still running and its students and staff none the wiser as to just how  _close_  things had gotten to  _really bad_.

That 'somehow' was actually due in not-a-small-part to Director Himeno knowing to tap Shizuru for help. As the outgoing Student Council President, it would have been understandable to all if Shizuru had wiped her hands clean of the debacle and let the new student council handle it.

Instead, the Student Council President and Vice President had pushed up their sleeves and tackled the school's problems head on with such solemn responsibility that even Suzushiro Haruka could not find fault with them, and she'd thought them nothing but tea-drinking slackers since the beginning of her tenure. The indomitable blond had remarked that it was a pity her peers hadn't applied themselves so completely and devotedly from the beginning; maybe such misfortune wouldn't have even befallen Fuuka in the first place! Shizuru and Reito had shared an awkward look when Haruka had said this; Haruka hadn't known just how deeply her casual remark had cut them, for each was keenly aware just how much of Fuuka's dire constraints were caused by their direct actions alone during the Festival.

It was a debt neither thought they could ever repay, though they had to try. Shizuru had it worse than Reito. He had barely been in control of his own actions, his mind so dominated by the Obsidian Lord. She could not quite claim the same for herself.

In a way, Shizuru was glad that the sheer mountain of work to do was so massive that even  _she_  had had to resort to using concealer for the dark circles under her eyes. She'd had so little sleep in the last few weeks that her mind was mostly mush by the end of the day, incapable of higher thought. The few times she saw Natsuki, she was so tired and out-of-it that sleep-addled giddiness and old habits kicked in and she reverted to the role of so-over-the-top-flirty-and-touchy-she-had-to-be-joking-and-therefore-harmless friend. The look Natsuki had given her the first time this happened was multifaceted – confusion, exasperation, disappointment, relief – there had been so many emotions warring on her face. Ultimately, though, Natsuki had settled on being exasperated, had sputtered out an admonishing, "S-Shizuru!" and only the crimson-eyed girl herself had noticed the relief evident in the exasperation.

Her silliness had given them a welcome reprieve from actually having to deal with what was between them, though it was clear to both that the other knew that this was temporary. They'd have to deal with it eventually – the sooner the better.  _After this deal_ , Shizuru promised herself, _we'll talk. We'll really talk. After this deal._

"Ah, Fujino-san, thank you for coming." Director Himeno gave Shizuru a friendly smile as she came out from behind her impressive mahogany desk filled with papers and grabbed her purse from a lavish coat rack. She calmly walked over to Shizuru, her heels making no sound against the lush carpets. "Ready to go?"

"I am," Shizuru replied.

After she had helped to contract Suzushiro Construction to the physical rebuilding of Fuuka at a  _ridiculously_  low bid (Haruka herself still hadn't realized that it hadn't actually been her family's idea to be so generous), Director Himeno had then asked Shizuru to help secure one last final replacement investor for the school. While Fuuka could not be quite as frivolous as when SEARS wrote the cheques, with one more investor, things would likely go as far back to 'normal' as it ever would.

The two took a little bit of time to walk over to Fuuka University. While the sprawling University grounds were still a part of Fuuka Acadamy, it was a bit further away from where the administration, high school, junior high and primary schools and dormitories were clustered.

They were due to meet one Arisugawa Juri in one of the fitness facilities at Fuuka University.

The Arisugawa zaibatsu had been an unusual conglomerate to approach as a potential investor for Fuuka, but through meticulous research and inspired analysis, Shizuru had realized that the company was actually poised to become a player in the business of private education and that the person most likely to sign on the dotted line was actually the second daughter of the illustrious clan as opposed to the current clan leaders or named successor.

Arisugawa Juri, now in her early thirties, had brought national pride to Japan when she won bronze and then silver in fencing in back-to-back Olympics a few years ago. She was also a semi-retired but still known fashion model whom had helped popularize the attractiveness of healthy athletic women over the skeleton drug-addict look that had previously dominated Europe's runways. As a part owner in a label helmed by fashion world darling Daidouji Tomoyo, Juri had also experienced a little bit of business success as well.

None of this would have made Arisugawa Juri a likely candidate to invest in Fuuka Academy save for Shizuru's deeper analysis which led her to deduce that based on Juri's personality and temperament, there was no way a mere silver metal would satisfy the woman as a legacy.

They found Juri on the second level of Fuuka University's main gym where the running track was, leaning on the railing and looking down at the hardwood courts beneath her. Her orange hair was curled but unbound, and she wore large sunglasses that hid most of her face. Her stylish blazer had a distinctly militaristic flair about it and she noticed when Shizuru and Director Himeno approached her.

"Arisugawa-dono, welcome to Fuuka Academy," Fumi said warmly, bowing respectfully. "It's a pleasure to see you again."

"Ah, gokigenyou, Director Himeno. Thank you for indulging me in my request." Straightening up and taking her sunglasses off, she nodded politely to Fumi in greeting but her sharp marine eyes remained on Shizuru's ruby hued ones.

"Not at all, we are very pleased that you would want to come see the campus personally," Fumi replied smoothly. "After all, we are hoping that you will be spending a lot of time here. I thought it might be a good idea to introduce our Student Council President of Fuuka High School to you. This is Fujino Shizuru – one of the key administrators of Fuuka's High School. We're lucky that she's decided to attend Fuuka University when the new semester starts; hopefully she'll agree to pop back over periodically and impart her wisdom on the new student council."

Shizuru smiled pleasantly as she bowed respectfully to the older woman, all the time catching the appraising glint in Juri's eyes and feeling amused and maybe even a little flattered by the nature of that appraisal; Juri had come out in the public eye a couple years back, an unusual but not entirely unexpected announcement to most who knew her. "It's nice to meet you, Arisugawa-sama."

"You as well, Fujino-kun," Juri replied, smiling. "I understand from Director Himeno that you were very involved in this entire process. It's unusual to see one so young so capable." She smirked. "I too was on the student council in my high school days, but I seem to recall spending most of our time messing around and playing cruel games on each other."

"Fuuka's philosophy allows its students to be all that they want to be," Shizuru responded evenly. "We are run by the students, for the students, after all. To have that freedom means to shoulder that responsibility and Fuuka is an attractively safe environment for one to learn the ropes."

"Yes, and such a philosophy certainly will attract the type of student I am most interested in. The bold. The best." Juri remarked. She looked down at the gym where several games of volleyball were in session. "I have hope that I can train a successor here, someone to claim gold for Japan where I failed to."

And with those words, Shizuru traded a discrete glance with Fumi, feeling satisfaction warm her belly. After receiving and contemplating the proposal, Juri had returned it with a note that she could potentially be interested if Fuuka could meet a few very key and specific demands; one was a seat on the board of directors; two was that she be able to implement a fencing program from which children in primary school through university were able to join. All of this was contingent on Juri finding the training facilities up to her standards.

The three women spent the next several hours touring the various facilities across Fuuka Acadamy's lands, but from the fencing champion's early words, Shizuru was quite sure that the school had indeed proven up to snuff. There were only formalities left now.

 _Finally,_  Shizuru thought,  _now I'll be able to spend some time with Natsuki_.

The thought filled her with anticipation and nervousness.

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

That Utena might have been with child when she left Ohtori is an idea I remember explored by a couple different authors in a couple of different fics before KannaMiko and MaiHime came out, so the idea that Chikane could be her child – a mixture of heroic and despotic characteristics she inherited from parents not entirely human, was an idea that's been with me from the first time I watched the end of KannaMiko. This became the basic idea for an earlier fic of mine called Prince, but it was too ambitious an idea for me at the time to complete. Hopefully, I've got a bit more life under my belt now to pull this off. :)

Daidouji Tomoyo is from Card Captor Sakura, who will be mentioned here or there but won't be a big part of this fic. That Tomoyo might be acquaintances with Juri was from another set of crack fics I once wrote similar in setup but completely different in theme and feel from Revolutions.

Also, Guubear and I apparently have very different definitions of cyberstalking. ^_^;;

Cheers,

jen-chan

jen-chan-shaw. tumblr. com

jen-chan-shaw. livejournal. com

* * *

OMAKE I: Damn it Google! You've betrayed me!

UTENA: Chikane, sweetheart, we need to talk.

CHIKANE: Sure, what's up, Mom?

UTENA: Now, please don't get angry, I wasn't trying to spy on you or anything, but today by complete accident, I discovered how to look up internet search histories, and, um, I'm a bit worried.

CHIKANE: [Massively sweatdropping] Uh-oh.

UTENA: Sweetie, this obsession you have really isn't healthy and what you're doing is harassment. You could get in a lot of trouble if that young woman decides to go to the legal system. What's going on?

CHIKANE: ... I'm really sorry, Mom, but I'm going to be sharing fic-space with Fujino Shizuru soon, and I really wanted to maintain some sort of an edge over her. I mean, I only won that first Sai-Yuri popularity contest over her by a very slim margin, and now this fic's being posted on the MH board rather than the KnM board and I just really couldn't stand it if that bubuzuke-onna let that go straight to her head.

UTENA: [Sighs] Honestly, Chikane, I think it might have been healthier when you were just obsessing over Himeko...

* * *

OMAKE II: Aging not-so-gracefully

[JURI and UTENA are sitting at a coffee table. JURI is absolutely glowering at UTENA]

JURI: Damn it, this isn't fair.

UTENA: [Sweatdrops] Oh? Whatever do you mean?

JURI: [Slams both hands on the table] Look, we're  _both_  supposed to be a lot older than the main cast is; why have YOU not aged a day?!

UTENA: [Sweatdrops multiply]. Aaah, I think that's supposed to be a plot point. But, if it makes you feel any better, Juri-sempai, you could have passed for 30 when you were 16. I mean, really, your taste in jewelry and formal wear was really... uh... old school.

JURI: [Hangs her head] You are not helping.

* * *

OMAKE III: Company's A-Coming!

[The entire MAI HIME cast is holding onto brooms and mops and buckets and frantically cleaning every single piece of the scenery.]

NATSUKI: [Polishing a statue of MASHIRO] Mou! I have had enough of this [Throws towel down] Why the hell do we have to make everything so sparkling clean anyway? I hate cleaning!

SHIZURU: [With deep circles under her eyes] Natsuki! Quickly! Pick up your broom! Before Fumi sees you!

[It is too late. A massive monster of PINK HAIRED DOOM appears and gets right up in NATSUKI'S FACE.]

FUMI: WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, KUGA-SAN! GET BACK TO WORK!

NATSUKI: Ahh! [Hurriedly picks up her towel and continues polishing] Okay, okay! [FUMI goes away] Geez, what's her problem?

SHIZURU: Fumi's been a bit on edge since Fuuka is going to be hosting visitors from two other high profile yuri series. She really doesn't want to be embarrassed, and with her background as a maid, everything's got to be spick and span. Why do you think I've been so busy lately? The Student Council's been on cleaning duty for weeks!


	3. Chapter 2: The Underwear Chapter

*FIFTEEN YEARS AGO*

_A broken Prince walked up to a large barrier where the Demon of Despair he had vanquished many lifetimes ago was sealed. Large chains and paper wards with potent seals on them ensured that the Eight-Headed Demon remained bound, once again, in obedience. It had experienced a brief taste of freedom recently, too brief a taste, before It was bound by chain and ward once again, as It had been for so many years now, passing by the time in silent, scheming slumber and madness. It cracked open a single glowing eye on one of Its many heads as the broken Prince approached. His reflection, tall and erect, wearing the whitest of fine suits, was distorted in the Demon's eyes, His dark hands and face now the deepest of black voids. The Demon noticed that the sparkle of gallantry that once made Him blinding to all who beheld Him was conspicuously absent. The Demon closed Its eye once again._

_"The years have not been kind to you, Prince." It intoned, though Its monstrous mouth never moved, nor any noise uttered from Its tongue. There was regret in Its voice, sincere regret, at seeing the pitiful form that Its old nemesis now held._

_"I have a proposition for you," replied He, with no greeting save for the false smile that seemed to perpetually light His face these days. His tone was gamely, and He leaned against a nonexistent support in front of the bound Demon casually, as though settling in for a friendly chat._

_"A proposition?" The Demon echoed, snorting dispassionately. "I believe the term you are looking for, is 'a favor'. Even I felt the revolution pass, from all the way down here, and it has left you behind. What are you now? Nothing but a ghost, nothing but a shell. You are empty, and I have felt your despair take over you. You belong to me now."_

_"And you are disappointed."_

_The Demon did not dignify the statement with an immediate reply. "How many millennia has it been since you first sealed me here? How many times have I battled you since, Ame no Murakumo? This time... this time, I would have crushed you! Crushed the archetypal Prince, and all that he stood for! But I never got the chance now, did I, for a mere slip of a girl has stolen the pleasure from me. She has left you but a husk, already mine. You are no longer the Prince. You are nothing, and so you belong to me."_

_"... will you seek vengeance against the one who robbed you?"_

_The Demon gave a short bark of harsh laughter. "Oh, make no mistake. When I am free again, I will drown her in despair, along with the rest of the world. I may have underestimated her this time, but not next time, no. Into me, I will seep the one who opened the Gate to the Prince. I will prove that the darkness of my despair cannot be won against. I will destroy her. I will pluck her limbs apart, one by one, and scatter them over the four corners of the earth. I will savor her screams, and grind her bones between my teeth... but she will not bring me satisfaction. For though she may be the one to inherit the title of Prince, she is not_ _**you** _ _."_

_The Demon stopped speaking, simmering, seething as It regarded Him, this pitiful once-Prince who could not even hold onto His own stature long enough to give It the satisfaction of crushing Him._

_"She carries my child." The Prince, the Hero, the Savior - He had known so many names - could not help but smile once more, though this one was markedly more sincere, and nasty, than all His previous. He felt genuinely pleased with the Demon's reaction of stunned silence. Confidence, that which had eluded Him for so long that it felt slightly uncomfortable (though He did not let the Demon know that), dared Him to continue speaking. "A baby girl, borne of two princes. Pure. Innocent. She is me - my blood, my flesh. She is all that is left of me."_

_He walked back and forth in front of the Demon as He spoke, as though His physical steps would allow His words to resonate more clearly. Now, He neatly clicked His heels together, and turned to regard the Demon once more. His eyes were half hooded, sly, challenging._

_"... could you break her?"_

_"Of course I could break her," the Demon sneered again. "In the end, there will be only me, for I break_ _**everyone** _ _! Even those damnable Miko. Even you, if not for that blasted Witch, even you would have broken before me!"_

_He smiled coyly. "You couldn't break the Lunar Priestess."_

_The Demon smoldered in impotent fury at the trite comment. "Do not be mistaken," It said, slowly, dangerously. "The Miko of the Moon was mine, through and through. She was broken. It was simply that the Miko of the Sun put her back together again."_

_"That seems like splitting hairs to me," He chuckled at the Demon's expense while It glowered. "Mah, mah, calm down. I don't mean to insult you. In any case, would it give you satisfaction? To destroy my line? To destroy all that remains of me?"_

_There was silence for a moment. Finally, the Demon rumbled, "at this point, it would have to suffice."_

_His smile broadened. "Well then, allow me to repeat myself: 'I have a proposition for you.'"_

_The ground vibrated with the Demon's annoyance, but Its attention was gained. "Fine. Speak then, Prince- no, to barter with me, you are not the Prince anymore. What do you call yourself these days?"_

_He paused for a moment as He considered this. Finally, He chuckled. "I suppose you may call me, the End of the World."_

* * *

"Shizuru! What are you doing here?" Natsuki was surprised and pleased when the ruby eyed older girl showed up at her door (well, Mai & Mikoto's door, really). It was her moving day and she hadn't expected Shizuru to show up at all, knowing how busy the student council President was.

"My meetings finished so I came to help, of course," Shizuru replied easily enough with a ready smile.

Natsuki opened and closed her mouth a couple of times to come up with some reasons to excuse the other girl but found that she couldn't find any. Instead, she looked down at Shizuru's attire dubiously. In direct contrast to the old jeans and t-shirt Natsuki had on, the other girl was still in her uniform, skirt, and bone-white blazer. It was pretty obvious Shizuru had come straight from her meetings. "You didn't have to," Natsuki said softly, not quite succeeding in hiding the appreciation from her voice. "Come on, I'll grab you an old shirt or something."

They went deeper into the dorm room where Mai and Mikoto were busily taping up a few last boxes. The red head and wild child greeted Shizuru when she entered and Natsuki fished an old sweater out from one of the boxes so Shizuru could put something on over her school clothes. Shizuru took the offered sweater and happily inhaled its scent (much to Natsuki's embarrassment and Mai's chortling) before doffing her blazer.

It took them several short trips, but soon they got Natsuki's stuff to her new dorm room two floors up from Mai & Mikoto's where they started to help her unpack as well, at least, until Mikoto's antics got her and Mai booted out.

"Hahahaha! Mai! Look!" Inevitably, Mikoto had made it into Natsuki's lingerie collection and was sitting in a pool of her underwear with lacy things dangling from every possible limb, the box they'd been stored in emptied over her head. Natsuki's left eyebrow began to twitch spasmodically, and she was about to go give Mikoto a whollop but Shizuru beat her to the smaller girl.

Rather than reprimanding the wild child however, Shizuru simply picked the white and baby-blue laced push-up off of one of Mikoto's's ears and gazed at it fondly. "Ara, Natsuki! Do you remember this one? I haven't seen it in so long!" Her ruby eyes glinted playfully. "You never wear half of the things you buy. Come on now, would you give us a show-?"

"Aaah, that's it, I can finish the rest of the unpacking!" Practically swiping the bra out of Shizuru's fingers, Natsuki harrumphed mightily, cutting off the rest of Shizuru's request before anyone else could chime in. Picking Mikoto up by the scruff of her neck in her other hand, Natsuki escorted the small girl to the front door. "Out!"

"Aaah, hai, we'll catch up with you later." Laughing, Mai accepted Mikoto from Natsuki like a kitten, still by the scruff of her neck. Her eyes darted towards where Shizuru was standing quickly before she looked back at Natsuki and gave her a wink as she left.

That wink brought a bit of heat to Natsuki's cheeks as she could almost feel words of encouragement coming from it:  _Good luck!_  Silently staying by the open front door, Natsuki felt slightly off balance as she realized that this was going to be one of the very few times she'd been alone with Shizuru ever since... since the festival.

 _Really? Has it been that long?_  Natsuki had a hard time believing it. Surely she'd been alone with Shizuru since the craziness, hadn't she? But the more she thought about it, the more she realized that between Shizuru's work and her make up lessons, they really  _hadn't_  seen each other very much at all. When they had, they'd been in the company of the other former Hime during karaoke, or with Sakomizu-sensei that other time. Once, Shizuru had tried to come by later at night to help Natsuki with her studies, but she had been so exhausted that she had soon fallen asleep instead.

Natsuki felt her heart speed up a little bit and she cautiously looked over her shoulder at Shizuru. The chestnut haired girl was busy piling a bunch of Natsuki's shirts together to put into a drawer with a quiet but obvious fondness in her actions. As she was doing so, Natsuki thought there was something different about the Shizuru in front of her from the Shizuru in her memory.

 _She's tired,_  Natsuki realized after a moment. A _re those bags under her eyes?_ _She's really been running around a lot the last few weeks._ Natsuki couldn't help but feel her heart squeeze a little – with guilt, with joy, she wasn't sure, and worse yet, wasn't sure why she felt that way – that despite how worn out Shizuru must have been, as soon as she had a moment's downtime, she had come to see her...

Sensing that she was being watched, Shizuru looked over at Natsuki and cocked her head to the side. "Ara, did Natsuki mean for me to leave as well?" She asked, walking over to her.

Natsuki's face got a little warmer. "N-no," she said quickly. "You can stay, Shizuru." She paused. "Um, that is, I'd like it if you stayed."

Shizuru's smile deepened, even as the amused twinkling in her eyes softened. Wordlessly, she walked right up to Natsuki, causing the dark haired girl to take one step back, and then leaned in towards her. Natsuki's eyes widened in surprise at the unexpected boldness of the other girl's actions as their faces hovered close to each other.

And then Shizuru's lips parted, turning her knowing smile into a triumphant grin as Natsuki felt the undergarment she'd still been holding in one hand gently taken away from her. Shizuru leaned back and held the bra up in front of Natsuki's nose. "Ara, so Natsuki really will model this cute set for me?"

The dark haired girl blinked twice in incomprehension before her face twisted into one of embarrassment. Quickly swiping her bra back, she sniffed icily as she stalked around Shizuru. "Mou, I can't believe you sometimes, Shizuru. If you're gonna be a pain, then you can leave too."

"Aaah, then in that case, I promise to be good." Shizuru chuckled as she followed after Natsuki, picking up another discarded piece of underwear. She looked at them with a chuckle and stretched the low-rise pink cotton-lace T-back panties in between her two index fingers, holding them up in front of her face. "Well, for now anyway."

Feeling a bulging aneurysm about her temple, Natsuki grit her teeth as she narrowed her eyes at Shizuru dangerously, summoning every ounce of self-control she could to not fall for the taunt. But then Shizuru wiggled her fingers back and forth, making the panties dance a sexy jiggle, and whatever self-control Natsuki had mustered went flying out a nearby window.

With what could almost be termed a war cry, Natsuki pounced at Shizuru for the liberty of her (very private) property, but the older girl was able to simply sidestep the attack. She wasn't able to avoid Natsuki's unexpected follow up however, as the dark haired girl lashed a leg around and tripped the upright girl down onto the floor.

Amidst shrieks and cries of laughter and torture, they tried to wrestle the other to the ground to claim the prize. Natsuki almost won too, until Shizuru started fighting dirty, her fingers going for Natuki's most ticklish areas. Natsuki tried valiantly to escape, but it was a lost cause, her body pinned under Shizuru's own.

"St-! Stop! HIII! Hhaha! Stop it! Shiruzu!" Natsuki cried, gasping for her breath, even as she laughed. "Alright! You win, I give! I give!"

Hearing the dark haired girl's surrender, Shizuru gradually stopped her attacks, though she still held Natsuki's wrists down, mindful of the possibility of sneak retribution. Her eyes danced with mischief as she looked down at Natsuki beneath her, and Natsuki smiled as she looked back up at the older girl, her wounded pride soothed by the fact that at least now Shizuru looked a little less tired from before.

 _That's better_ , Natsuki wanted to say, even opened her mouth to say, but a startled sound interrupted her.

"Oh."

Both Natsuki and Shizuru blinked. It took them a moment to realize that neither had made the sound. Looking towards the source of the sound, they saw a pretty girl with long blue-black hair standing in the still-open doorway with wide, wide blue-green eyes. She was wearing a jacket and collared shirt and a knee length skirt with a large duffle bag on one shoulder. Her other hand pulled a rolling luggage behind her.

Very slowly, she turned her head to look at the numbers on the front of the door, as if to confirm that they were the right ones, before equally slowly turning her back to look at Shizuru still straddling Natsuki on the floor a midst an explosion of undergarments all over the place. As she blinked a couple more times at the two girls on the floor, Natsuki felt her entire body threaten to spontaneously combust.

"Hmm. Well now. I appear to be interrupting. Forgive me. I'll come back later." With the driest voice Natsuki had heard in recent memory, the pretty girl gave a quick bow of apology and stepped back into the hallway, closing the door behind her with a firm click.

Natsuki and Shizuru stared at the now closed door for a moment longer before turning to look back at one another.

"Who was that?" Shizuru asked.

 _Oh. My. God._ "I think," Natsuki swallowed, twitching spastically in an effort to keep the embarrassment running rampant through her veins from popping every single last one of her blood vessels, "that was supposed to be my roommate."

"Oh." Shizuru considered this. Seeing that her skirt had flipped up around her waist at some point during their play, she flipped it back down as casually as possible. "She's pretty."

Something inside her broke and Mt. Natsuki erupted. She wished she had a handy halisen or giant mallet or something. "Is that really all you can say?!"

* * *

Chikane stared at the wooden door she had just closed and stared at the numbers affixed to it one more time to make sure that this, indeed, was supposed to be her room for her next three years in senior high school.

It was.

She frowned as she tried to remember her first time through high school.  _Were students really so... open... these days?_  Then she remembered some of her mother's students' behavior.  _They probably are._  She certainly didn't remember high school being like that at Ototachibana Acadamy, but she'd lived at home that life, rather than in the dorms. Suddenly, thoughts of what Himeko and her roommate ( _what was her name? Saotome? Saotome Makoto. Right_ ) might have been up to when they had shared a room entered into her mind's eye, and Chikane's heart clenched a little bit with jealousy.

 _Stop it, you're being silly._  She scowled at herself as she turned away, willing the slight blush on her cheeks to die down. Studying the skies for a moment as she pondered what to do, she put her heavy duffle bag on top of her rolling suitcase and then stuck her hands in her pockets as she thought about where she could go for the next little while.  _Would an hour be enough time? Two? Surely they wouldn't last all day?_

Maybe she could go to the library and use one of the computers. Himeko hasn't involved with anything newsworthy lately, not even on the most obsessive fashion blogs, but one never really knew what things could turn up.

Just as she was about to go, her dorm room door opened, and a tall, chestnut haired girl with ruby eyes looked out at her. Chikane recognized her as the 'one on top' from a moment ago. Her eyes flickered past the girl into the room, and Chikane could see the other girl ( _the bottom_ ) was frantically throwing her weight against a closet door that looked like it wanted to explode. None of the underwear previously littered across the room was in sight.

"Ara, sorry about that," the chestnut haired girl said cheerfully. "You must be Natsuki's roommate? Don't go, we were just playing around. Please, come in. After all, this is your room too now." She smiled winningly.

 _Her hair's the same color as Himeko's,_ Chikane noted absently. _And judging from her accent, she's from Kyoto._   _For someone who's just been walked in on, she's remarkably composed_. Quickly scanning the girl over, she noted that she seemed a little familiar, though off the top of her head, she couldn't quite place her. From the casual way she was able to project complete ease and confidence in a situation which should have instead prompted humility, Chikane decided that this person might be someone of significance to Fuuka Academy, and that she had best be polite and respectful to her. Remembering her manners, Chikane returned the smile, bowing politely. "In that case, if you're sure about that, then please excuse me." Grabbing her things, she walked into the room while the chestnut haired girl closed the door behind her.

Seeming to have the closet under control, the other dark haired girl slowly backed away from it, eyeing it pleadingly. The closet rumbled ominously, but held for now. Satisfied, she then turned to face Chikane and offered her a half-cringe, half-smile.

 _Hmm,_  Chikane noted.  _This one feels embarrassment._

"Hey. I'm Kuga Natsuki. Second year. You must be Himemiya Anthy, right?"

Chikane bowed lightly in greeting. "Yes, I'm Himemiya Anthy, first year. Nice to meet you, Kuga-sempai."

"Ah, Natsuki is fine," Natsuki replied quickly.

Chikane thought about this for a moment. Given the circumstances she had first met her upperclassman, maybe it would be better to dispense with formalities. "Well then, Natsuki-sempai, please, call me Chikane." She expected the confused expression her senior gave her and smiled in explanation, "yes, I know, it's strange, but while Anthy is my first name on paper, I've never gone by it, ever. Please, I'd much prefer Chikane."

Natsuki traded a quick look with the chestnut haired girl (a look Chikane did not miss), and then shrugged. "Um. Okay, if that's what you want, Chikane."

Chikane looked over at the chestnut haired girl expectantly who was still smiling serenely. "Ara, where are my manners. My name is Fujino Shizuru. I graduated from Fuuka High school last semester, and will be going to Fuuka University. I was just visiting Natsuki." Shizuru paused for a second. "Since you are on a first name basis with Natsuki already, then you can call me Shizuru too, if you want."

"Oh, no," Chikane replied quickly. Having heard the name, she quickly realized who the chestnut hair girl was and where she'd seen her; she was on all of Fuuka Academy's promotional materials to prospective students. "It would be far too presumptuous of me to address our Student Council President in such a casual manner."

Shizuru raised an eyebrow in appraisal for a moment before she smiled.  _Fascinating_ , Chikane thought. She could feel a little bit of a smirk of intrigue behind that smile.

"Ara, well, if that is how you feel then who am I to push familiarity onto you. Very well, Himemiya-san. Perhaps one day you will feel more freely around me." She winked over at Natsuki. "You'll be seeing quite a bit of me, I imagine."

"Hopefully not in more ways than one?"

Both older girls blinked again. And then Natsuki started to get flustered while Shizuru simply chuckled.

"Aah, you've got it wrong!" Natsuki cried, sputtering and waving her hands wildly about. "About earlier, Shizuru and I were just horsing around! We weren't…! I mean, we're not…!" And then she trailed off somewhat helplessly, her mouth opening and closing as she seemed to regret her not-quite-words, looking over at the other girl desperately.

For her part, Shizuru simply continued to smile, though Chikane thought she detected a hint of a complex feeling within those ruby depths. The student council President came to Natsuki's verbal rescue. "We really were just having a bit of innocent fun while putting away Natsuki's things. She just moved in too, you know. So, no, you won't be seeing so much of me again," she considered for a moment, her lips curling further upwards. "Well, at least, not without dinner first."

Now it was Chikane's turn to blink again as she considered the motivation behind the older girl's flirty words.  _Huh. Am I being tested here?_  Chikane decided that she probably was. After all, her comments upon coming across the pair's compromising position had actually disclosed a lot about herself, and what biases influenced her assumptions.  _Hmm. She's good._ Chikane thought, as she eyed the older girl with intrigue and decided to play along. "Just one dinner?"

Something dangerous glinted in the back of the older girl's eyes as she rose to the challenge. "Ara, and here I thought Himemiya-san was worried about being rude?"

Chikane would have answered except that Natsuki spoke up, her brow furrowed in slight annoyance. "Uh, what are you two talking about?" She asked, her emerald eyes darting back and forth between them, narrowing her eyes disapprovingly at the older girl.

But before either the 10th grader or the President could answer right away there came a small 'chu?' of inquiry from Chikane's duffle bag. Surprised, all three sets of human eyes in the room look towards the bag sitting atop the luggage and saw a small form suddenly appear on the side of the bag, as though something on the inside was trying to burst out. The form disappeared and reappeared along the bag until it found the zipper opening and with a triumphant 'chu!', a small, humanoid purple-grey palm-sized monkey popped out from the duffle and stood atop of it with her hands on her hips.

"Gah!" Natsuki reacted first, recoiling more in surprise, "what is that thing?!"

Natsuki's jump back however caused her to knock an elbow against the closet she'd been fighting with earlier and with an ominous groan, the doors that were holding back what appeared to be highly pressurized contents gave way. With no further warning, the overstuffed closet burst open, avalanching out the largest and most colorful collection of lingerie Chikane had ever seen. Natsuki only had time to give a dismayed cry before being buried under a plethora of cotton, satin, silk and lace.

Chikane stared at where her roommate had previously been standing in abject disbelief. She looked over at Shizuru, whose face was almost a mirror of her own shocked expression. They stared at each other in disbelief before Chikane snapped out of it first.

Looking over at the amused monkey-mouse, Chikane admonished, "Chu-Chu! You're supposed to be home with Okaa-sama! What are you doing here?"

The monkey-mouse didn't answer Chikane. Instead, she hopped down onto the ground and walked over to the nearest piece of underwear (the same pair of panties Shizuru had used to give Natsuki such grief), gave a 'chu!' of love and started to make a nest.

* * *

Natsuki spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking and putting things away with Shizuru and her new roommate – Himemiya Anth, no, Himemiya Chikane. After the initial surprise and confusion caused by Chikane's pet had passed, the younger girl excused herself to step outside and let her mother know the family monkey had stowed away in her luggage.

While Chikane was gone, Natsuki tried to put the lingerie away properly – so that it would actually fit in the closet, but the marmoset was so enamoured by Natsuki's choice in underwear, it (no, she – Chikane had explained that the monkey, Chu-Chu, was female) stubbornly refused to release the few she had in her possession. Shizuru wasn't quite been able to hold back her chuckles as Natsuki tug-of-warred with the small mammal 1/8th her size.

"Oh, give me that!" Natsuki cried, her patience fraying. With one mighty tug, she managed to extract the last pair of panties from the paws of the animal. "Aha!"

Then Chu-Chu started to cry piteously, twin trails of tears warbling down her face.

 _Oh, crap._ Natsuki wrinkled her brow uncomfortably. "What are you doing? Are you crying? Ahh, stop it! Don't cry! Wait, can monkeys cry?"

Shizuru picked up the crying primate and stroked her head as comfortingly as possible, trying not to be bothered when the monkey blew her nose on the sleeve of Shizuru's shirt. "Oh, Natsuki, just give the poor thing a pair or two. How can you say no to this face?" They both turned puppy dog eyes onto the brunette, who sputtered indignantly, but ultimately, with a resigned sigh, found herself returning her hard earned garments.

Chu-Chu was overjoyed, burying her face into the soft cloth.

Alas, the peace didn't last. Mai and Mikoto showed up a few minutes later with food.

"Hey, how's the unpacking coming? We brought dinner!" Mai said cheerfully, holding up some plastic bags.

Mikoto mirrored the action, holding her plastic bags out with a massive, pleased grin on her face. "Yakisoba noodles and fried-gasp!" Her mouth opened in shock as she spied the mouse-sized monkey in Shizuru's palm. She dropped her bags in surprise as instinct took over. Mikoto lunged for Chu-Chu, hissing and spitting. If she had hackles, they would have been up. As it was, her braids were standing on end in agitation.

Massive sweatdrops rolled down the back of Chu-Chu's fuzzy monkey head. Self preservation kicked in at exactly that moment as she leapt off of Shizuru's hand just in time to avoid Mikoto's teeth. The mouse-sized monkey frantically tried to put as much distance between herself and the frightening cat girl behind her, but Mikoto was on her tail. Their actions knocked Shizuru over into Natsuki who ended up face first in the closet again, sending clothing and lingerie and hangers flying.

By the time Chikane entered into the room again, Chu-Chu and Mikoto had demolished most of it. She stared incredulously over at Natsuki, who could only hang her head in shame.

It was late into the evening by the time they finished cleaning up and eating dinner, later still into the night by the time Natsuki and Chikane bid adieu to Natsuki's friends (Mikoto having somehow become fast friends with Chu-Chu by the end of the evening) and went to bed.

* * *

A familiar howling woke Natsuki in the middle of the night.

 _Duran?_  Natsuki thought sleepily, blurrily blinking her eyes as she thought she heard her Child's lonely cry. Turning over from her back onto her front, she looked up towards the window and could see the beautiful light of the full moon shining into the room through the open curtains. Her eyes followed the light shining into the room and Natsuki's heart gave a skip of surprised as she spied a dark skinned, dark haired figure sitting on Chikane's bed on the other side of the room. Natsuki froze with surprise.

The beautiful, ageless woman sitting on the edge of Chikane's bed wore a simple crimson sleeveless silk tunic that ended mid thigh, tied at the waist with a sash. Long purple hair spilled over her shoulders and down her back in luxurious cascading waves. In her lap, Chu-Chu lay asleep, nuzzling against something white and cotton, and continued to sleep, even as the woman gently ruffled the fur on the top of the monkey's head. After a while, she turned to look over fondly at Chikane, also fast asleep on her side, facing Natsuki. The dark skin woman brushed Chikane's bangs from her eyes and tucked them behind an ear.

Natsuki swallowed nervously. She was ready to bolt upright in her bed and demand to know who the woman was and how she got into their room, except that the woman then looked directly at her and Natsuki froze again, finding herself trapped inside a magnificent, ancient, emerald gaze.

The woman raised her eyebrow, intrigued, as she studied Natsuki. Finally, after a moment, she cocked her head to the side and asked in an amused voice. "Can you see me?"

Natsuki could only nod silently, still captured by those ancient, ancient eyes.

"Hmm. I wonder how that could be." The dark skin woman considered this for a moment before an expression of understanding dawn on her. "Oh. It must be because Duran misses you so." And then she smiled kindly at Natsuki. "You are lucky. He is such a good boy. Perhaps he will be reunited with you soon."

Natsuki's eyes widened. "What did you say?!" She cried, but didn't cry at the same time.

Natsuki awoke again with a start, bolting upright. She gasped loudly.  _What the hell was that?!_ She whipped her head over to look at Chikane's bed, but the dark skinned woman was no longer there. In fact, there was no evidence of her ever having been there. Chu-Chu was asleep on Chikane's bed in the exact same spot she would have been in had the woman not been there, still nuzzling against some underwear. Chikane was also still asleep on her side, facing Natsuki.

Natsuki stared at Chikane for the longest time, trying to notice anything different about her.

She couldn't.

 _... that was a seriously weird dream,_  Natsuki thought to herself as she laid back down, her eyes still on her roommate. Her heart was still racing, though eventually it calmed down. A twinge of heartache grasped at her heart. She hadn't thought about Duran in a while now.

Natsuki was about to go back to sleep when she sensed Chikane stir on her bed. Chikane's bangs fell out from behind her ear –  _her bangs_! Natsuki realized,  _her bangs were moved!_  – as she awoke blurrily. It took her a moment to focus her gaze on Natsuki.

"Is something wrong?" Chikane asked, obviously still sleepy.

Natsuki was silent for a moment, unsure of what to say to the other girl she had just met today. Finally deciding that she didn't want to be thought of as a weirdo to someone she had to live with for a while, Natsuki muttered, "... no. I just thought I heard something."

Chikane considered this for a moment, rubbing her eyes. "Hmm. I did too," she admitted. She looked at the window as Natsuki had dreamed she herself had done so, squinting at the brightness of the moon. "A wolf's cry. I didn't realize there were wolves around here."

Natsuki stared at Chikane, stunned. "There aren't." Her heart continued to squeeze. "Not anymore."

Chikane crinkled her brow confusedly at Natsuki, even as she laid back down and snuggled into her blankets again. "... perhaps we can ask the RA about it in the morning..." Within moments, she had fallen asleep once more.

Natsuki continued to stare at Chikane, sleep robbed from her already. Unable to shake the feeling of unease, she curled up under her own covers quietly, even as she stared over at her sleeping roommate.

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

I seem to remember Natsuki not being a very formal person as, early on, she just told Mai to call her Natsuki.

... crap. I suddenly realize that since Chikane and Shizuru are far smarter than I could ever hope to be, their dialogue is going to be hard to pull off convincingly. -_-;;

I'm preeeeetty sure Chu-chu is a girl, but I can't quite remember where I remembered that from. -_-;;

* * *

OMAKE I : Using protection

[UTENA is saying goodbye to CHIKANE at the train station before CHIKANE goes off to Fuuka.]

UTENA: ... and remember to call! And floss! And don't give it up on the first date!

CHIKANE: [Sweatdrop] Uh, sure. I'll keep that in mind, Mom. [They hug]

UTENA: Oh! And if someone does strike your fancy, remember to use this! [Hand CHIKANE a box of condoms]

CHIKANE: ... [Sweatdrops massively multiply] Uh, Mom? Not that we really talked about this, but, um, I thought you knew me better than that. I won't be needing these...

UTENA: Sweetheart, I do know you very well. Trust me, you'll be accessorizing before you know it, so, yeah, you're gonna need those.

CHIKANE: [Turns beet red] Oh. Um. Uh. Thanks Mom. [Sticks the condoms into her pocket and hurries onto the train without looking back].

* * *

OMAKE 2: If There Was A Mai Hime Movie And It Was As Whacked As The Utena Movie Was

[On Fuuka school grounds, close to the church, a giant HARUKOW is idly grazing grass. What is a HARUKOW? It is an impressively sized cow with purplely-grey eyes and shoulder length blond hair with short bangs. The hide around its front half is green and somehow contains markings that resemble the cut of an Executive Director's vest. It has a white band with a red marking around one of its front legs. It's middle and rear section resembles a dark grey pleated skirt while its back legs look like its wearing stockings. Cows should never be able to pull off the Zettai Ryouiki "Absolute Territory" troupe, but HARUKOW does so impressively.]

HARUKOW: [Lazily munching on grass] Mooou. [As she inhales, a CHIBI-SIZED GENNAI gets stuck in one of her nostrils.]

HARUKOW: ! [Indignant!] Moooou!

[Suddenly, HARUKA strides onto the scene and boots HARUKOW into the stratosphere]

HARUKA: NO WAY! If there's going to be a Mai Hime Movie, I am NOT going to play a COW!


End file.
